Cathryn Blankenship has no desire for a season in London! Why on earth would her father want her to leave her home in Charles Town? Upon Cathryn’s steadfast refusal, Governor Blankenship is forced to assign a young lieutenant to watch over Cathryn on the journey and ensure his daughter’s appearance in London. Cathryn finds Lieutenant Jake Pennington the most aggravating, maddening man she has ever met...a man Cathryn soon admits she is in no hurry to see leave.

But fate has other plans for her in a world she is ill prepared to enter. She descends into a place where love and betrayal go hand and hand, where greed and treachery are second nature, but moreover the threat her father believes he has sent her is awaiting her arrival. When fate tears her apart from her Lieutenant, Cathryn finds herself desolate and alone. Soon, Cathryn makes fateful decisions that will send her back to her home.

A home far different than the one she left. A war rages. Soon, she discovers her life is in danger and the only one that can save her is the one who left her heartbroken.

Author's Note: This book was previously published with Whiskey Creek Press as The Judas Kiss and The Promise under the Tides of Charleston Series.

A chill was in the air. Pulling her shawl tighter around her, she stood in the night’s breeze and inhaled deeply.

Tacy hadn’t said a word. There was no need. Cathryn realized Tacy feared she was asking for trouble. She was. She had to see him.

Above her, a quarter moon sat in the cloudless sky and reflected off the still ocean water. Cathryn stared upward hoping…praying Jake would appear. Then he was there.

“I’m glad to have found you here,” he said, walking up beside her.

“I’ve been warned, Lieutenant, not to linger long in your company. Mrs. Montgomery is afraid people will begin to talk. I don’t think she wants to be held responsible for my tarnished reputation.”

“I see nothing wrong,” he said. “Your maid is within reaching distance and I imagine can hear every word we say.”

She turned abruptly right into him. His hand went around her waist. Instinctively, she looked up into his eyes.

Mesmerized, she couldn’t breathe as he reached over and caressed her face. She melted with his touch…his look. In an endless moment in time, she couldn’t take her eyes off of his. She thought he was going to kiss her, but the moment passed.

He released his grip. Her heart sank. Feeling dejected, she turned from him.

“Don’t, Cathryn. Mrs. Montgomery isn’t wrong to be concerned,” he said. “The ship is tight quarters when two feel as we do. I see you every day. You are within my reach. The ship will dock tomorrow and everything will change.”

She whipped back around. Her eyes blazing, she challenged him, “That is why you came tonight? You have come to say goodbye to me. Do not lie. I can see it in your eyes.

“Tell me…tell me, Jake. Are you are leaving me? Is that what you have come to do? To say it was nothing, only the close quarters upon a ship! How dare you! Make me want you and now back away. Don’t you tell me what I’m supposed to feel!”

“Tomorrow is a different day,” he said. “You will see how it is. I have my own responsibilities as you have yours. Remember when you first came aboard, you said you were only biding your time for a year? Now you believe you want something else. How do you know what you will feel on the morrow?”

She wanted to scream at him that she had never felt what she did when she was around him. Why did this have to change? He had told her he was only a simple lieutenant.

She didn’t care. Oh, Heavens! She had fallen hopelessly in love with him.

“So you don’t care for me,” she cried. “Don’t tell me such! I could not take those words.”

“I don’t know what I want you to take with you,” he whispered. “It is for your best if we take this no further. You will see.”

Her temper exploded. She hit his chest with her fist, over and over again. “For my best! How dare you try to tell me leaving me is for the best! How can you say such—”

She didn’t have a chance for another word. He cupped her face in his hands and his lips came down upon hers, softly at first, then harder. Trembling in his arms, her lips pulsed against his with her own desire.

Somewhere in the madness, the reason for meeting this night escaped her mind. Only being with him…in his arms with his lips upon hers mattered. He kissed her again and again, ravishing her mouth.

Gasps of pleasure escaped her. Her body was shocked at the depth of emotion he provoked within her. She was lost in his essence.

Slowly, his lips broke from hers. “See what you made me do. This is why I can’t—”

She took his hand and kissed it, terrified of losing him…losing what they had before it had a chance to begin.

“Why? Tell me, Jake. Why? Can you not give me hope? This can’t be goodbye. It can’t. I would die.”

He stood in silence for a moment. His gaze fixed upon hers reflecting a longing that both suffered. He took her one last time in his arms and kissed her. Breaking from her, he caressed her face one last time, turned and walked away.

Jerri Hines is an Amazon bestselling author of the Winds of the Betrayal series and Southern Legacy serial that were inspired by her fascination with history. She is a Southern gal who has lived the last thirty years near Boston with her Yankee husband. She believes in love and the power it holds. It is the reason she writes romances. Her next release under Jerri Hines will be the much anticipated conclusion to Winds of Betrayal, Set Fire To the Rain, coming in 2016.

She is also an Amazon Bestselling author under her penname, Colleen Connally. Her historical romance series, Secret Lives, is riddled with romantic suspense and a touch of paranormal. Fragmented, Book One Boston's Crimes of Passion, marks her first contemporary suspense thriller. Framed, Book Two, will be released in 2016.

She is a supporter of The Home For Little Wanderers in Boston and the Alzheimer's Association.

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